NaNoWriMo 2017

[Ainsley Lynch]

I remember there was a NaNo thread last year, so I hope nobody minds me setting one up again this year!

Is anyone else giving NaNoWriMo a shot? I tried it last year but didn't really have the spark to keep going. I used to be pretty intensely into NaNo, and was my region's Municipal Liason for 5 years, but I burned out pretty badly doing the ML work and stopped enjoying the actual novel writing. This is the first time I can remember in six or seven years that I'm actually feeling excited about the challenge and my novel and the act of working on a novel itself! Yay!

For anyone who doesn't know, NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a challenge started in the late 90s that's become an international writing event. The goal is simple; a 50,000 word novel, completed entirely in the 30 days of November. That sounds like a lot, but it boils down to 1,667 words a day. It's a definite challenge, but also a lot of fun!

So, is anyone else giving it a go this year? What's your novel about? It's fallen at a REALLY inconvenient time this year with regards to HNZ stuff, there's so MUCH going on here right now (which is GREAT but WHOOF wrist pain from all the typing )

Oh yeah, and my username is tomoyan if anyone wants to be writing buddies!

 

[Aion Zephyr]

This is the first year I've ever done it not sure how it will turn out but giving it a go! Interesting to see who else is this year

 

[Professor James Cade]

It's already claimed my soul.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Giving it a go my motivation is already slightly slipping though

 

[Monty Pendleton]

Yeaaah I did my words on day one but I don't really have any motivation to go on ;-; I am not a fast writer so I find it quite hard to participate! (as I discovered last year)

Buuut I am cheering y'all on

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Has anyone on the site ever completed NaNoWriMo and come out with something that they liked? I like the whole goal setting of writing every day that it encourages, but I sometimes work on replies for a week and think they are the worst, so I'm just trying to consider how I might feel if I ever participated. I might have to give it a try one year and see.

Good luck to those participating!!

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

Neither of the stories I wrote in 2014 and 2015 (the years that I managed to hit 50k) have seen the light of day since November 30 of that year I was so done with both

so to answer your question: no

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

I'm giving it a shot this year. Though on days I work is tough to meet the goal.
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[Georgiana Night-Carter]

I cheer you all on as I'm not creative enough to make a story like that, in a world of my own creation that is I'm purely fanfiction writer Make sure to massage your fingers and palms every once in awhile guys!

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

I've won nanowrimo by writing fanfiction before Steph no excuses (jk obviously it's up to everyone personally if they want to participate or not )

 

[November Albertson]

You can use fanfiction? Well, maybe I'd consider it then. But not this year
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[April Ward]

You can write anything you want

 

[Ainsley Lynch]

Has anyone on the site ever completed NaNoWriMo and come out with something that they liked? I like the whole goal setting of writing every day that it encourages, but I sometimes work on replies for a week and think they are the worst, so I'm just trying to consider how I might feel if I ever participated. I might have to give it a try one year and see.

Good luck to those participating!!

I've liked what I've come up with a few times (admittedly not very often!) and I know a few people who've gone on to publish their NaNo novels after some heavy editing. (There's a full list on the website, though I think the best known published NaNo novels are Water for Elephants and The Night Circus.) Since the best way to approach NaNo is to absolutely forbid yourself from going back and editing until the month is over, it really forces you to focus on just getting the words out first and worrying about their quality later, so I see it really as a way to break ground on a first draft without the inner editor slowing you down and making you second guess. There are a bunch of post-events for people editing their novels in December/January, so that's definitely a common way to approach it.

Obviously it's not gonna work for everyone, and not everything that comes out of NaNo is gonna wind up good, but as a way to challenge yourself to put quality aside and just Make A Bunch Of Words Happen it's a really good system. Plus, the community aspects are reeeeally valuable I find. Even back when I was super stressed out from event planning/forum moderating, the regional forum and local IRL meetups were my favourite parts of the month. It's a great way to connect locally with other writers and share experiences and ideas.

EDIT: Steph I think 90% of my early (and most successful) attempts were fanfiction!!

 

[Aion Zephyr]

I have no idea how this is gonna go I'm just spouting things that come out my head. It uses HNZ characters though which is interesting I dread to think what day 30 brings..

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

Rowan: Thanks for all of this info! I, admittedly, know very little about the event, but that's awesome to hear that there are follow up events and supports along the way for people who do want to do more with it.

Steph: You'd only be two days behind.

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Also, I'm looking through the list now and found a book that I adore there!

 

[Hayley Elridge]

Has anyone on the site ever completed NaNoWriMo and come out with something that they liked? I like the whole goal setting of writing every day that it encourages, but I sometimes work on replies for a week and think they are the worst, so I'm just trying to consider how I might feel if I ever participated. I might have to give it a try one year and see.

Good luck to those participating!!

I've liked what I've come up with a few times (admittedly not very often!) and I know a few people who've gone on to publish their NaNo novels after some heavy editing. (There's a full list on the website, though I think the best known published NaNo novels are Water for Elephants and The Night Circus.) Since the best way to approach NaNo is to absolutely forbid yourself from going back and editing until the month is over, it really forces you to focus on just getting the words out first and worrying about their quality later, so I see it really as a way to break ground on a first draft without the inner editor slowing you down and making you second guess. There are a bunch of post-events for people editing their novels in December/January, so that's definitely a common way to approach it.

Obviously it's not gonna work for everyone, and not everything that comes out of NaNo is gonna wind up good, but as a way to challenge yourself to put quality aside and just Make A Bunch Of Words Happen it's a really good system. Plus, the community aspects are reeeeally valuable I find. Even back when I was super stressed out from event planning/forum moderating, the regional forum and local IRL meetups were my favourite parts of the month. It's a great way to connect locally with other writers and share experiences and ideas.

EDIT: Steph I think 90% of my early (and most successful) attempts were fanfiction!!

THE NIGHT CIRCUS WAS A NANO NOVEL? Oh my gosh I did not know this! It's such a beautiful, well-written book, too.

Cyndi: I've finished twice, and liked what I did both times, though one of them still hasn't been edited three years later so maybe I didn't like it that much . . .
Also my first (and finished) NaNo novel was based entirely on a plot I didn't get to do on HNZ because the person I was plotting it with ditched me.

I'm not really Doing NaNo this year because I'm at the thesis-writing stage of my Masters, but I will be continuing my current novel, going to my local write-ins and participating on the forums. My novel is about the increasingly complicated rivalry between two sorceresses, doing Renaissance-style science and applying that to magic. It's a lot of fun.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

A week in already. How is everyone doing on it?
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[Amber Chou Wilson]

I'm falling a bit behind, but I still have hope that I can catch up

 

[Professor Cyndi Kingsley]

If anyone's willing to share, I'm curious to hear what genre you're writing.

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

I'm writing fantasy. Could be sci Fi, but I am going with fantasy.
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[Nicolas King]

I'm writing fantasy. Could be sci Fi, but I am going with fantasy.

I'm writing an unwelcome epilogue to Kaitlyn's NaNoWriMo piece which suggests that the magic is just sufficiently advanced technology, and the mythical creatures are projections. Easily turning this "fantasy" novel into the Sci Fi it was meant to be.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

I'm writing fantasy too

 

[Sloane Halliwell]

I'm currently on 26000 words and I'm doing Scifi this year!
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^^ This is where most of my allotted HNZ time has been spent
​

 

[Professor Kalif Styx]

Good luck with that, Nick
I'm around 10,000 words just trying to catch up. Though since work is slow, about 8500 of that has been the last two days.
Also, where my hnz time has been lol. Though my laptop is out of commission so that doesn't help.
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[Ainsley Lynch]

I've had some Unfortunate Medical Occurrances (nothing new, just stressful new treatments for stuff that was already wrong with me, and blood tests for things that turned out not to be wrong with me at all) and my novel has ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm fallen by the wayside somewhat hoping to get into catchup mode over the weekend. Yikes.

Genrewise I'm doing a pretty standard zombie survival thing (I didn't wanna go at my first serious NaNo in years with an idea I was super attached to) with the slight twist that I'm not making any plot decisions myself at all. All my (randomly generated) characters have stats and I'm rolling dice for random encounters, combat, equipment, etc. They might all die before I reach 10k and I'll have to reroll new characters. I really like to improvise in unplanned scenarios (my favourite part of roleplaying) so I'm hoping it'll keep my novel moving at a good pace (when I am actually writing it and not constantly thinking about my own bones)